«Israel» Proposes 500 New Settlement Units near Al-Quds

Local Editor

Al-Quds [Jerusalem] municipality proposed building 500 more settlement units in an area of the city annexed by the "Israeli" entity after the 1967 Middle East war, a settlement monitoring group said on Wednesday.

There was no immediate confirmation of the move by the apartheid "Israeli" regime, but France condemned it.

The proposal is the first since the election of Donald Trump, whom "Israeli" right-wingers expect to be more supportive of settlement building than Barack Obama's administration.

Washington had been highly critical of illegal "Israeli" settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds. Most countries view all "Israeli" settlements on occupied Palestinians land as illegal.

In Wednesday's announcement, al-Quds' municipal planning committee recommended to the regional planning committee that it proceed with plans to build the 500 units in an illegal "Israeli" settlement in north of al-Quds.

The regional body initially proposed the plan in 2014 but never proceeded. The proposal came up again for discussion on Wednesday, said Betty Herschman, a spokeswoman for the Ir Amim advocacy group, which scrutinizes settlements.

After Trump's election, so-called "Israeli" Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a right-wing party leader who backs illegal "Israeli" settlement building and opposes a Palestinian state, was quick to state his view that "the era of a Palestinian state is over."

Al-Quds' mayor, "Israeli" businessman Nir Barkat, had also since reiterated his calls for expanded settlement building in the city, and the apartheid "Israel" entity's parliament last week backed a bill to retroactively legalize settlement outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land in the besieged West Bank.

Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi said al-Qud's move was "only the beginning of a very dangerous step" and called on Trump "to immediately tell ‘Israel' that [he] will not support this horrible violation of international law."

Anticipating Wednesday's announcement, the French government issued a statement saying the move would isolate Palestinian areas "and prejudge the final status which can only come about through negotiations between ‘Israelis' and Palestinians."

France had proposed holding a conference between the "Israeli" entity and the Palestinians in Paris later this year, but the entity rejected the idea and said it won't attend.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team